Badges of Honor
by the Canary that Ate the Cat
Summary: Yang earns another badge of honor and Blake contemplates her own. One shot. Relationship can be interpreted to your liking.


She had never seen something quite so ugly on Yang.

Mind you it was a large, angry bruise, and bruises were always ugly. This particular one sat high on the blondes chest, just below her left shoulder. It was a deep purple color, rounded, and only slightly larger than a fist.

Yang's fist.

Yang, the bruised, who currently sat crossed leg on the dorm room floor.

It was a casual, Saturday morning and the blonde had forgone her brown jacket, leaving her in a yellow tank, and her bruise within perfect eye-line of Blake, who was reading on her bed. Or had been reading; she hadn't been able to tear her gaze from the purple eyesore for the last five minutes.

Ruby was seated directly across from her sister, some board game set up between them. They had been going at it for hours, neither girl seeming to have the upper hand.

"I'll buy it!"

Yang laughed.

"Rubes, you can't afford it."

"Awe, what?" The brunette looked down defeated at the two lien that she still had in her possession. That was definitely not enough to buy West Vale Boulevard. It was then that Weiss spoke up from her perch at the end of her bed.

"Well, if you didn't purchase every property that you landed on, maybe you would have more money. Honestly Ruby, how do you expect to manage your finances in real life when you can't even accomplish it in a game?"

Weiss leant forward to pull on her boots, completely oblivious to the simultaneous eye roll from the sisters. Once finished, she stood up and pressed out the creases in her dress before turning to march towards the door.

"In any case, it's time for us to go."

Ruby's head shot up, regarding Weiss in utter confusion.

"Wha? Go where?"

The heiress halted her progress, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Back still facing the other three, she huffed out an exasperated reply.

"I've already told you five times. Twice of which were just this morning! We are meeting Velvet in the library to discuss our dust project."

"Oh right! Sorry Weiss."

Ruby jumped up and scrambled to put on her own boots in a flurry of rose petals. Yang threw her arms up in protest.

"What? But we were in the middle of a game!"

It was Weiss who answered.

"Please. You were both well on your way to bankruptcy. I've honestly never seen the bank win in a game of Monopoly."

Signature red cloak in place, Ruby headed towards the door, ruffling her sister's hair when she passed. Before Yang could smack her in agitation, Ruby used her semblance to speed out of the room, tossing an apology over her shoulder.

"Sorry Yang! We'll play later!"

Weiss soon followed with a huff and a slam of the door, startling Blake in the process.

The faunus hadn't even been paying attention.

If you were to ask her what had been said, or even where the other two members of team RWBY had run off to, she wouldn't have been able to tell you. Blake had been so lost in thought, her mind miles away. Or perhaps days away. Specifically, two days earlier when Yang had actually acquired that troublesome bruise.

She just couldn't seem to get it out of her head.

Honestly, it wasn't the worst bruise Blake had seen. For the life of a huntress, as bruises go, it wasn't really all that bad; Blake herself had had worse. Really, the actual contusion wasn't what was bothering her, but how Yang had gotten it.

Again, she thought back to that day.

* * *

><p><em>Thursday.<em>

_It was hopeless. The boulder clearly had no intention of moving. All four girls had tried to roll the offending rock out of the way, but to no avail. _

_It had been a routine assignment; clear out a den of ursa. And honestly, everything had gone routinely, up until the end, when a poorly timed "Ice Flower" combo had caused a rock slide towards the mouth of the cave. The cave that said ursa and team RWBY had been occupying. The grimm had quickly been dealt with, but the four huntresses had yet to escape their rocky prison. _

_Tensions were high._

"_Well if you didn't have such an itchy trigger finger..."_

_Weiss and Ruby had been arguing back and forth for the last seven minutes and thirty-two seconds. Blake knew the exact time because she herself had been wandering the cave, scroll in hand, attempting to get a signal. The cave walls were proving to be too thick, thus eliminating any hopes of contacting the outside._

_Sliding her scroll back into her pocket, Blake looked to Yang. The blonde had been standing in front of the offending boulder for as long as Weiss and Ruby had been fighting. She said nothing, just quietly observing the rock wall, eyes shifting across the expanse of the boulder. Occasionally, Blake would catch Yang's lips moving, as if mumbling, but no words would escape her mouth. She looked like she was calculating, analyzing._

_Blake had never seen Yang so still in her life. Even in sleep her partner was constantly moving, switching positions and rolling over._

_Then, as if she hadn't just spent the last eight minutes as a living statue, Yang spun 180 degrees, strode to the cave wall opposite the boulder, and promptly sat down. She sat with her back against the wall, hands resting on her knees, eyes closed. Blake didn't know whether to be amused or concerned._

_Any humor she might have found within the situation, however, instantly disappeared the moment the blonde curled her right hand into a fist, and struck herself on her left shoulder. The impact made a low, thumping noise. Blake's head twitched in confusion, and she could faintly hear Weiss and Ruby's argument abruptly stop. _

_Yang did it again._

_**Thump.**_

_Three pairs of eyes focused on the blonde._

_**Thump.**_

_**Thump.**_

_**Thump.**_

"_Yang..." Blake trailed off, unsure of what was going on._

_**Thump.**_

_**Thump.**_

"_Yang." Blake repeated, slowing moving towards her partner._

"_Blake, no!" Ruby's voice was urgent, but low, as if she were afraid to speak too loudly. Blake stopped dead in her tracks, glancing back over to their leader. Ruby continued._

"_No one interrupt her. If something messes her up she'll have to start all over again."_

_**Thump.**_

_Blake wasn't sure if Ruby was being intentionally vague, but the brunette abruptly moved to another portion of the cave wall and quietly sat down herself. Blake looked to Weiss, conveying her confusion with wide amber eyes, but the heiress just shrugged and moved to find her own section of the wall. Blake's gaze shifted between the three seated girls, all who refused to make eye contact._

_**Thump.**_

_She sat down._

_**Thump.**_

* * *

><p><em>She checked her scroll again.<em>

_Three hours._

_It had been roughly three hours since Yang had started her strange ritual. Three hours of silence, save for the sound of her fist pounding into her own flesh._

_Three hours._

_**Thump.**_

_She hadn't faltered once; had maintained a steady rhythm._

_**Thump.**_

_Blake was losing her mind. She had watched her partner literally beat herself up for three hours; back straight, eyes closed. _

_Ruby, whether intentional or not, had refused to give them any in site as to what was going on. Her eyes were closed as well, but Blake was certain their leader had just fallen asleep. Weiss had taken to polishing Myrtenaster with a cloth she had produced from her pouch. Blake returned her gaze to Yang._

_**Thump.**_

_She wondered how Yang's shoulder looked now. It was currently hidden beneath her brown jacket, but Blake could only assume the discoloration had set in. First yellow, then a brownish green, and finally settling on a dark purple. It had to be tender. She shifted her attention from Yang's shoulder to her face. The blondes expression remained stoic. _

_**Thump.**_

"_Hmph."_

_Blake's head snapped to Weiss's direction, who now was haughtily pushing herself up from the ground. Ruby stirred at the commotion while Blake watched with wide eyes. Weiss spoke up._

"_This is ridiculous. How long are we going to wait for this oaf to beat herself up before we start discussing an actual escape plan."_

_**Thump.**_

_Ruby, trying desperately to blink away the remnants of sleep, scrambled to her feet._

"_Weiss..." Ruby's desperate plea was cut short as her partner whipped around to glare at her._

"_No Ruby! I am not waiting any longer!"_

_**Thump.**_

_She moved towards Yang, as if intending to shake the taller girl to her senses. But, just as she reach out towards the blonde, Yang's eyes suddenly sprang open._

_Weiss stumbled back with a gasp._

_Yang's fist had ceased movement as she regarded the heiress. Gone were the violet hue of her irises, replaced instead by the blood red of her semblance. She stood._

_Time seemed to stand still for everyone but Yang Xiao Long. The blonde moved across the cave, eyes trained on the boulder that stood strong against the entrance. Golden hair danced like fire behind her and a faint crackling could be heard as she moved. Yang approached the rock. Ruby retreated._

"_Everyone back!"_

_The little brunette quickly ushered Weiss and Blake towards the back of the cave and away from Yang._

"_Shield your eyes just in case."_

_Both Ruby and Weiss lifted an arm against their faces, turning their backs to Yang. Blake couldn't tear her eyes away from her partner._

_Yang reached forward with her right hand, grazing the rock wall with her finger tips before pulling away. She cocked her arm back, elbow bent, fist drawn tight behind her ear._

_And then she yelled._

_And then she moved, launching her fist forward._

_The sound of bone connecting with rock was deafening. Blake was unsure if the crack that ensued was the boulder or Yang's fist. She prayed for the former._

_And then a shower of pebbles. It was as if it were hailing from within the cave, and Blake was finally forced to shield her eyes from the debris. When Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were finally able to look back, the boulder was completely gone, opening their view up to the clear, night sky._

_Yang promptly collapsed in exhaustion._

* * *

><p>Blake regarded her partner now, sprawled across the dorm room floor and covered in colorful, fake money. The three remaining members of team RWBY had had to carry their fallen comrade all the way back to Beacon. Yang had slept all through Friday classes and had only just woken up that morning. Her aura had completely recharged, and she was back to full strength, the only reminder of that night in the form of a purple splotch on the blondes shoulder.<p>

"I'm rich."

Blake couldn't help but giggle at her partners antics. She smirked.

"Try not to spend it all at once."

Yang rolled over before getting up and moving to join Blake on the bed.

"How now brown cow? You know, that would be way funnier if you were a cow faunus."

"Very funny." She rolled her eyes, shifting to make room for the other girl. Plopping on the bed, Yang nudged her shoulder.

"Awe, come on, you love me. I'm the cats meow."

Blake glared.

"Alright, that was it. You get one cat pun a day."

Yang pouted. "Never should have agreed to that."

Blake laughed, causing Yang to grin at her cheekily, happy to hear the sound. Yang continued.

"Seriously though partner, what's up?"

Yang regarded her with a raised eyebrow and Blake had to remind herself that she promised to be more open. She had been so used to keeping things to herself and wasn't fully accustomed to these new friendships. She was, however, trying.

"I was thinking..."

This was harder than she thought. She cleared her throat and shifted to face Yang head on, the atmosphere in the room suddenly becoming serious.

"Growing up I always perceived bruises and scars as a sign of weakness. It meant that I wasn't fast enough, wasn't strong enough. But after the other day, and how you got this..."

She gazed down at Yang's shoulder and lightly grazed the skin just above the bruise with the tips of her fingers, avoiding the undoubtedly tender flesh.

"Pfffff."

The noise startled Blake and she jerked her hand back, amber eyes flying up to meet violet, afraid she had hurt her partner. Yang's expression was, however, not one of pain but incredulous amusement.

"Weakness? They are a sign of strength! Bruises are the mark of a fighter; scars, the mark of a survivor. They're proof that you've been through some stuff, but came out of it alive."

She shifted, holding her left elbow up to Blake's eye line. The faunus could just make out the pale sliver of puckered skin.

"See this? Fell off Bumblebee when I was learning to ride. Dad almost had a heart attack."

She dropped her elbow and instead moved to lift her bangs up, revealing another small scar just above her right eye.

"Got this headbutting an ursa. Do not recommend, by the way."

Yang continued with more stories.

"And this I got falling out of a tree trying to help Ruby. And this is from when Ruby first tried to show me Crescent Rose. Come to think of it, a lot of these are from Ruby."

Blake stifled a laugh at Yang's look of realization before she scrunched up her nose, eyes going cross.

"I must have broken my nose at least three times."

Yang's eyes glazed over, presumably in thought over the many instances of broken noses, and Blake took this moment to regard the feature in question. Yang's nose was lightly dusted in freckles and, upon further inspection, had a small bump towards the middle of the bridge before shifting slightly to the right where it clearly hadn't set right. Blake had never taken the time to notice until now.

It made her think back on her own scars. Like the nick towards the base of her right cat ear. Said appendage twitched at the thought. She had gotten it as a child when she had been caught by a mean spirited human who had threatened to cut it off. She had always been ashamed of it. She glanced back to Yang's crooked nose. The blonde had started speaking again.

"So, yeah. I kinda like to think of them as badges of honor."

Badges of honor. Blake liked that.

Her eyes shifted down before catching sight of four small indents, puncture marks, just below the webbing between Yang's thumb and index finger on her right hand. She smirked, grabbing the blondes hand in her own and running her thumb along the scar. Amused amber met curious violet.

"And what about this one? Another badge of honor?"

Yang had the decency to look sheepish.

"Well, that's from when Nora stabbed me with a fork because for some reason she thought I was trying to steal her pancakes."

Blake laughed.

"Maybe because you were actually trying to steal her pancakes?"

Yang grinned mischievously, a glint in her eye.

"I plead the fifth."


End file.
